The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. UNI offers more than 90 majors across five colleges. The fall 2023 total enrollment was 9,021 students.

The university was initially founded in 1876 as the Iowa State Normal School, with a purpose of training school teachers and educators. The University of Northern Iowa is one of three public universities in Iowa, all of which are governed by the Iowa Board of Regents.

The University of Northern Iowa was founded as a result of two influential forces of the nineteenth century. First, Iowa wanted to care for orphans of its Civil War veterans, and secondly, Iowa needed a public teacher training institution. In 1876, when Iowa no longer needed an orphan home, legislators Edward G. Miller and H. C. Hemenway started the Iowa State Normal School.

The school's first building opened in 1867 and was known as Central Hall. The building contained classrooms, common areas, and a living facility for most of the students. It was also a home to the college's first principal, James Cleland Gilchrist. The building was the heart and soul of the school, allowing students to study courses of two-year, three-year, and four-year degrees. In 1965, a fire destroyed Central Hall, and school faculty and Cedar Falls citizens donated over $5,000 to start building Gilchrist Hall.

The school has been known under the following names:

• Iowa State Normal School, 1876–1909
• Iowa State Teachers College, 1909–1961
• State College of Iowa, 1961–1967
• University of Northern Iowa, 1967–present

From 2014 through 2018 the UNI hosted the Midwest Summer Institute: Inclusion and Communication for All, a two-day conference on facilitated communication sponsored by the Inclusion Connection and Syracuse University's Institute on Communication and Inclusion. Facilitated Communication is a discredited practice, and in 2018 UNI decided to discontinue the conference at the urging of multiple nationwide academics.

Since its founding, the university has had eleven presidents.

• James Cleland Gilchrist, 1876–1886
• Homer Horatio Seerley, 1886–1928
• Orval Ray Latham, 1928–1940
• Malcolm Poyer Price, 1940–1950
• James William Maucker, 1950–1970
• John Joseph Kamerick, 1970–1983
• Constantine William Curris, 1983–1995
• Robert D. Koob, 1995–2006
• Benjamin J. Allen, 2006–2013
• William Ruud, 2013–2016
• Mark Nook, 2017–present

University of Northern Iowa colleges include:

• Wilson College of Business
• Education
• Humanities, Arts and Sciences
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Graduate College

UNI provides an opportunity for the students to study in 25+ countries and select from over 40 programs. It is also available to all students attending the university. The mission of the Study Abroad Center at the University of Northern Iowa is to provide service and leadership in international education to UNI students, faculty, staff, the community and the State of Iowa.

The Culture and Intensive English Program (CIEP) is an intensive program in English for non-native speakers. It is designed to prepare students for academic work at the undergraduate or graduate degree level. University of Northern Iowa students are also encouraged to participate in the Conversation Partner Program to help foreign students with their English ability and foster cross-cultural relationships while gaining mutual understanding.

The university is the publisher of The North American Review (called the NAR), a celebrated literary magazine that began originally in Boston in 1815. Its past editors have included James Russell Lowell, Charles Eliot Norton, and Henry Adams; while among its past contributors are Mark Twain, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Walt Whitman, Kurt Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates, Guy Davenport and Margaret Atwood. In 1968, when the magazine was purchased by UNI, Robley Wilson was appointed editor, a position he continued in until his retirement in 2000. The current editors are Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger, Grant Tracey, and Brooke Wonders.

The University of Northern Iowa Teaching and Research Greenhouse is a greenhouse complex incorporating botanical gardens for research and education. It is located on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The greenhouse contains plants from many ecotypes, including 250 tropical plants, an extensive collection of arid climate plants, and the 1,200-square-foot (110 m) Aquatic Learning Center.

The school's mascot is the Panther, represented as a sibling pair of mascots known as TC (The Cat) and his sister TK. They participate in the NCAA's Division I (I-FCS for football) in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) for most other sports, and the Big 12 Conference for wrestling. The major arena on campus is the UNI-Dome, currently the home of the football team. The Dome also serves as a venue for many local concerts, high school football playoffs, trade shows, and other events. In 2006, the university opened a new arena, the McLeod Center, to serve as the home for several athletic programs, including volleyball and men's and women's basketball.

UNI Athletics has enjoyed great success lately with the men's basketball team competing in the NCAA tournament three consecutive times in 2004, 2005, 2006, again in 2009 and 2010 and in 2015 and 2016. On March 20, 2010, the men's basketball team defeated the heavily favored, top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks to advance to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. It was the school's first appearance in the Sweet Sixteen. The Jayhawks were favored to win the NCAA championship. Their Cinderella potential ended with a loss to Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen, 59–52. The win over Kansas earned them the 2010 ESPY Award for Best Upset. Jacqui Kalin helped lead the women's basketball team to consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, as the team won back-to-back MVC Tournament titles. In 2010-11 she was named the Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year. In 2012-13 she led the league in scoring (19.5 ppg; a school record), had the fourth-highest season free throw percentage in NCAA Division 1 history-and the highest of any senior (95.5%), and was again named the Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year. For her career Kalin was first all-time at UNI in scoring (2,081), 3-point field goals made (265), free throws made (484), and free throw percentage (.920) the NCAA Division 1 career record.

The football team has been ranked in the I-AA (FCS) top 25 almost every year for the last two decades. The team appeared in the I-AA championship game in 2005, only to lose a close game to the Appalachian State Mountaineers. During 2007, the team was ranked #1 in the country by the TSN FCS poll for several weeks. The football team went undefeated in 2007 with an 11–0 record, a first for any school in the 23-year history of the Gateway conference. In 2001 and 2002 the volleyball team reached the NCAA Sweet 16 round, and in 2006 made it to the second round, and has competed in the tournament numerous times. The track team is also very successful (usually ranked in the top 25), as are the wrestling and volleyball teams.

The University of Northern Iowa wrestling team won the NCAA Division I national championship as ISTC in 1949 and NCAA Division II national championships in 1975 and 1978. They competed in the Western Wrestling Conference until 2012, when UNI became an associate member of the Mid-American Conference since the MVC is a non-wrestling conference. In 2017, UNI wrestling joined the Big 12 Conference. In 1977 the women's softball team won the AIAW national championship.

Bryce Paup won the Defensive Player of Year Award by the Associated Press in 1995. In 1999 and 2001, UNI alumnus Kurt Warner was named NFL MVP by the AP.

During the 2014–2015 season, the men's basketball team ended the regular season ranked #11 by the AP Poll, the highest ranking in school history, and #9 by USA Today.

• Students Offering, 1888–1889
• Normal Eye, 1892–1911
• College Eye, 1911–1967
• Northern Iowan, 1967–present

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2020)

• Kappa Sigma
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon
• Chi Phi

• Alpha Delta Pi
• Alpha Xi Delta
• Alpha Phi
• Gamma Phi Beta
• Alpha Sigma Tau

UNI students may ride public transportation provided by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Black Hawk County for $0.75 a ride with a student ID. Routes 6, 7, 9, and 10 connect campus to downtown Cedar Falls, downtown Waterloo and various other destinations.

• William R. Clabby, journalist and editor
• Brittni Donaldson, professional basketball coach
• Jane Elliott, antiracist and diversity educator
• David Glawe, former Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis
• Carolyn Hunt, First Lady of North Carolina
• David Johnson, professional football player
• Jacqui Kalin (born 1989), American-Israeli professional basketball player
• Eric Keller, college wrestling coach
• Jeremy Morgan (born 1995), professional basketball player
• Bryce Paup, professional football player
• Chris Klieman, college football coach
• Brian Meyer, member of the Iowa House of Representatives
• Carter F. Nordman, member of the Iowa House of Representatives from the 19th district
• Nick Nurse, professional basketball coach
• Duane Slick, fine art painter and professor
• Ed Thomas, high school football coach
• Kurt Warner, professional football player

• Donna Alvermann, professor
• Jeremy Beck, composer and professor
• Harry Brod, former professor
• Herb Hake, television personality
• James Hearst, poet and former professor
• Miguel Franz Pinto, vocal coach, conductor, and pianist
• Mildred Hope Fisher Wood, special education teacher
• Loree Rackstraw, literary critic and memoirist
• Leland Sage, former professor
• Norm Stewart, college basketball coach
• Robert James Waller, professor, academic administrator, and author
• Norma Wendelburg, composer

• Official website